Readers of the WTE, thank you for the opportunity to reply to last week’s column by Brad Harrington and better explain my candidacy to you and the voters of Laramie County. It asked who I am; let me tell you.

I am a fiscally conservative Republican because I believe in responsible government spending and limited government interference in private business. I stand against bad policies pushed by any governmental body. I fought against a proposal by the Wyoming Legislature to enact sales taxes on services. I fought for a permanent ban against transfer fees on the sale of real property in Wyoming, all because I believed them to be wrong for the people of Wyoming.

I am a businessman and Realtor who invests time, money and energy into protecting the American dream of home ownership. As such, I regularly invest in the Realtor Political Action Committee that, in turn, invests in candidates that are supportive of the causes important to our industry, regardless of political affiliation. What businessperson wouldn’t invest in protecting their business and customers?

I know President Trump did – it is well documented that he has donated millions to Democrats and Republicans alike to protect his business interests, as have many other successful businesspeople. To not support a candidate who is business-friendly just because of the D or R next to their name is bad business, and it’s even worse politics. I am a realist who knows that the world isn’t black-and-white and that politics shouldn’t be a zero-sum process. Laramie County doesn’t have the time or the resources to be hindered by partisan politics. I don’t believe all Democrats are evil, just as I don’t believe all Republicans are righteous. I also don’t believe the merit of one’s argument, nor their aptitude for public service, is solely based on their political party. We’ve all seen the damage such attitudes have incurred on Washington, and Laramie County simply cannot endure such needless bickering to be adequately prepared for the future.

I look forward to discussing my candidacy further and what I will do for Laramie County.

(1) First off, you again claim to be a “fiscally conservative Republican” … Let’s let that point lie there for a bit;

(2) You then proceed to state, “I am a businessman and Realtor who invests time, money and energy into protecting the American dream of home ownership. As such, I regularly invest in the Realtor Political Action Committee that, in turn, invests in candidates that are supportive of the causes important to our industry, regardless of political affiliation. What businessperson wouldn’t invest in protecting their business and customers?”

Two problems with that hypothesis:

(a) PAC donations to candidates do NOT show up as personal contributions on the FEC’s website, so your attempt to pawn off your $13,600 in contributions to Democrats all over the country as the result of your contributions to the “National Association of Realtors” PAC is a statement of mistruth at best. Any such PAC contributions would show up as coming from the PAC itself, NOT from you;

(b) As for “protecting … business and customers,” I’d sure like to hear how a contribution from ANY source, you OR your PAC, to Democrats, the bulk of which are notoriously anti-capitalist and anti-business, is going to move such a cause forward. Do you care to explain how giving money to Democrats in New York, New Hampshire, Arizona or Colorado is helping YOUR “business interests”?

(3) Even making a huge leap of faith and supposing that there actually are some Democrats around who might actually support your “business interests,” you attempt to justify your actions by pointing out that “President Trump did — it is well documented that he has donated millions to Democrats and Republicans alike to protect his business interests, as have many other successful business people.”

Except that President Trump has “business interests” all over the country, and the planet as well; are you going to make such a claim about your own “business interests,” since you are busy donating to Democrats all over the country? Please explain how contributing thousands of dollars to out-of-state Democrats helps you to sell a house.

I would argue, furthermore, that such a policy of giving money to your enemies will ultimately backfire in the end, as business-haters can’t be “bought off”; they merely become more energized to steal your rightfully-produced wealth through other means. Can we assume, therefore, that your failure to challenge such anti-business practices at their root — by advocating the elimination of that kind of power and control — and of seeking to “buy off” such thugs instead — is now your official campaign policy?

(4) And, on top of that, can we now, then, assume that you are of the opinion that such actions should never be taken by any other “fiscally conservative Republican” out there? And, if so, how much room does that leave for those who choose to wage that battle in other arenas? Such as in arguing that government, properly constituted, shouldn’t even be involved in such areas of our society?

And, finally:

(5) You state, “Laramie County doesn’t have the time or the resources to be hindered by partisan politics.”

Really, Mr. Malm? You sure had time for “partisan politics” back in 2016 when you launched your “#NeverMoses” campaign against M. Lee Hasenauer, investing quite a bit of time and money into that course of action as it turned out: Signs, Facebook pages, email campaigns, you name it. Can we therefore conclude, in the face of such evidence, that your stated disdain for “partisan politics” only applies to others, but that YOU are perfectly free to practice such tactics when it suits your goals? Sure sounds like it to me.

Sorry, Mr. Malm, but your LTE looks like a huge scramble to dodge responsibility, if you ask me, and I’m sure there’s more than a few Laramie County voters out there who are convinced of that as well.